The Package Design Book 2

[Senaqua Hildreth]

Afterchecking opinions on a few forums, it seems Illustrator is the preferred choice for package design. I've also freelanced in an agency specialized in package design and all their stuff was in Illustrator but after discussing, this seems to have been due to habit and the investment it would have required to switch everything to InDesign...

Some printers require files to be submitted in Illustrator format, so ultimately it will come down to vendor requirements. However, I think of Illustrator and Photoshop as tools to generate layout resources, and InDesign as the best way to efficiently assemble those resources. Illustrator is great for creating the die cut and score template as well as all of the vector-based assets, but it is weak in areas where InDesign excels. Unless your vendor states otherwise, there is no reason not to get the most out of both platforms.

Mostly Illustrator with Photoshop elements inside of it, as it is the most popular format to prepare for print.Illustrator and Photoshop are the program you want to use to create things in because they have the highest amount of support for pre-press.

Esko, which is the most popular pre-press software, creates it's plugins for Illustrator and Photoshop, not InDesign. If you're printing in bulk you're probably not using digital printing. If you're not using digital printing you're probably using Esko software. If you're using Esko software you need to use Illustrator and Photoshop for the Esko plugins to make sure you have proper trapping, color layering, color separation etc...

I've worked at as an in-house designer for a publisher with it's own very large press, as well as a designer and art director for larger agencies, creating work for international clients (coke, mcdonalds, lipton), and I think you are spot on in your assessment of the programs & their use.

My name is Gil, Designer and a print production guy for the last 25 yearI will sum it like that:Illustrator is printers choice because you have plugins and apps like ESKO or ORIGAMI or ENGView or IC3D (which works with Indesign as well)that handles the trapping and the proof process of a package.Illustrator has a cloud of fans because no one has been there before them.

Although there is no built-in preflight, no info about images and no way to find overset text without looking, the industry got used to it and "ESKO" is the Adobe of the Packaging industry.That said, Indesign produces PDFs just as weel, it plays better in the global market has it can be localised using Cat tools (translators can work with indesign files easily), it has all the preflight you can think of, it has better text tools and can easily generate data based packaging.

Why everyone is using photoshop? Illustrator or Indesign? Adobe is kind of a monopoly, especially in Israel where type is written from right to left - not all companies invest in supporting hebrew or arabic (hebrew is 8-15 million people, while arabic is almost a billion world wide)There for, for now, ESKO rules, Illustrator rulesbut Indesign is smarter, better tool. As a printer, you should get a print ready file. But because not every designer can supply a package ready for real printing, there are bunch of people that work in a package PrintHouse that "fixes" all the client mistakes. If a plugin like "ESKO" or IC3d which does work with Indesign, will grab more market share, I am sure that Indesign will become the main tool for Handling Package variation (not design).The designers will do what ever they need to do in order to create stunning design and then they will create the full package in Indesign including Localisation or data based design, and tools like IC3d will create samples and mockups and trapping and folding and all the stuff needed not to make mistakes in this packaging industry!

My family owns a very large wholesale printing company. They print offset, digital, die cut, UV coat, you think it, they do it. I'm pretty sure my blood smells like ink and is CMYK Positive. That is the question they get the most. And I have heard the same response over and over again. PDF, 300 dpi.Now, if you need help, the print shop will help you at an hourly fee. And they will probably work with any file since they know them all and will end up converting it to a PDF in the end anyway. Lastly, you may want to tell your students it's very important to run their designs through some sort of spelling check thing since my favorite game while running around the shop was "Find the typo's in this flyer". It happens soooo often. The prepress person checks the file but they don't check for spelling.When younger my brother was a world renowned graphic designer but he stopped designing because running the printing company required him 24/7 and made him more money. He uses Illustrator.

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Hello all,

I have a couple of newbie questions on the suggested design flow of the evaluation PCB for my chip design. I've done my chip design in Cadence Virtuoso, and sent it to the manufacturing house for tapeout and packaging. Now I would like to design a PCB for it in Cadence Allegro, and if possible simulate the whole IC-package-PCB system before manufacturing the PCB.

Packaging will be done for me, so far I can only get the physical characteristics of the package (type, dimensions, pin pitch etc), and I'm not sure that I will be able to obtain the details on how wire bonding was done. Therefore, I was thinking of exporting my IC data from Virtuoso, placing it inside a package I'd generate with Package Wizard, and doing simple autorouting.

1. For purposes of creating the package, how do I get my physical IC data into Allegro? Can I import it into the Package Designer, or do I need to go through Design Entry CIS, and which format to use?

2. For simulating the whole IC-package-PCB, can I use the netlist extracted by Mentor Graphics Calibre (includes all the parasitics)? What format should I extract the data into - HSPICE, Spectre or some other? What component of Allegro do I use for simulating (in Virtuoso I was using Analog Environment with Spectre or HSPICE models)?

Sorry for the long post - if there's some sort of a tutorial covering this flow, I'd appreciate info on where to find it. Thanks a lot in advance!

Pavle

University of Illinois

Hi all,

Given that Cadence takes great pride in being able to cover all the chip design phases, I find it strange that I got no replies on how to use my Virtuoso design in Allegro.

I would really appreciate at least a pointer on where to start - what initial Allegro tool to use (I suspect Capture CIS), and what format to use to export my chip data from Virtuoso?

Regards,

Pavle

The Allegro RFSIP product has the functionality to generate a die footprint and the die text file used in Packaging. Depending upon the type of IC (digital, Analog or Mixed) and data speeds would dictate the method of simulation and products used. Your comments about the packaging being taken care of and not being much of a factor is in my opinion far from reality. Packaging is just as important as the PCB and more so in terms of budgeting. Mainstream design flows comprehend co-design of the IC-PKG-PCB. Allegro has this functionality as well.

Best Regards,

Dan

I checked with one of our VLE/APD design experts, and he suggested the following:

Tools Needed: Composer (Create IC or SiP designs), VLE (IC layout), SiP Layout and ADE (Virtuoso Analog Design Environment): Glue of IC and SiP tools available using SiP RF Architect 1. Export the DIE from VLE that creates a Composer symbol and SiP footprint for Allegro Package Design tool2. Use above generated SiP symbol (Composer) and footprint (SiP layout) in SiP design 3. Add package to the die(s) in SiP Layout and extract parasitics using solvers.

4. Back-annotate this extracted model (and critical Package routes) back to SiP design schematic (Composer)5. Use ADE to simulate Composer SiP design together with IC DIE and Package parasitics -- ADE is Composer integrated with Spectre and other simulators. - Calibre extracted IC parasitics would be simulatable in ADE6. Capabilities like design of off-chip components, partial circuit extraction for simulation, MTS would augment the solution He also suggested that you take a look at the SiP RF webinars that were offered starting in September of last year, and will go on through April:

=circuit_simulation_webinar_series

Regards,

Bill

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